


Past & What If

by Hellokaelyn



Category: NCIS
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-07
Updated: 2019-03-07
Packaged: 2019-11-13 03:43:28
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 819
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18024026
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hellokaelyn/pseuds/Hellokaelyn
Summary: Ellie and Nick learn about the bombing at NCIS, and Ellie has a thought.





	Past & What If

**Author's Note:**

> For the Anon on Tumblr who requested it.

Silence fell upon the group of four sitting along the couch in McGee and Delilah’s apartment. 

McGee and Jimmy sat on one end of the couch, a dark look on their faces. Nick and Ellie sat at the other end, Nick leaning against the back with one arm around Ellie who was leaning against his side. 

Both of them were thinking about what McGee and Jimmy just told them, the whole story leading up to the bombing at NCIS. 

Ellie had heard plenty about the bombing as it was all over the news and spread throughout every agency there was like wildfire, but that’s all it was..something on the news. Nick himself even though working for NCIS at the time was undercover and hadn’t heard about it till months later when while it was remembered, was all solved and done with. 

It almost didn’t seem  _ real _ to them, until hearing the events right then. 

“What-” Ellie swallowed the lump in her throat as she thought of the people she had become friends with at NCIS going through it. “What was it like?” 

Jimmy frowned. “I wasn’t there at the time, I was away with Dr. Mallard about to get married to Breena..but it was terrifying even from where I was. I couldn’t get a hold of anyone so I didn’t know who was alive or not..and when Dr. Mallard got the phone call about the bombing, he had a heart attack.”

Nick and Ellie both shared a look, they had known Ducky had a heart attack, but had no idea  _ that _ was the cause of it. 

“That was scary itself, so I can’t even imagine-” Jimmy continued, but stopped as he sighed and took a drink of his water. 

McGee didn’t look at them as he spoke, seeming a little lost in his thoughts. 

“It was...crazy. I was at my computer trying to transfer everything I had on a USB so I didn’t lose all the information I had, Vance had come down telling me to get out but I didn’t listen and kept at it. I had just been about to rush out of the squad room when-” He rubbed at his face, Jimmy put a hand on his shoulder. “The bomb went off. All I remember in those moments following was the sound of the windows exploding, a scream, and stinging as glass hit me..next thing I remember is standing by my computer looking at the damage of it and Gibbs coming up to me. Apparently I had a large shard of glass stuck in me and I didn’t even realize until Gibbs saw it. Luckily it didn’t hit anything and after some stitches I was all good.”

“I’m sorry man.” Nick said. “That had to be rough.” 

McGee nodded. 

“Where was everyone else?” Ellie asked softly.

“Gibbs had been outside with the bomb but ran inside to Abby when he saw her in the window still in her lab, Abby said he got to her right as the bomb went off. Vance wasn’t in the building, and Tony and Ziva had been in the elevator at the time and ended up getting stuck in there for hours.”

“...They took the  _ elevator _ ?” Nick asked in disbelief. “Everyone knows you take the  _ stairs _ !”

McGee let out a noise that sounding like a cross between a chuckle and slight snort. “Tell me about it, Gibbs had some choice words for them later.” 

Ellie and Jimmy both cracked a smile.    
  


Later that night Nick and Ellie lay in her bed, her laying on his chest as he ran his fingers through her hair. 

“I..I had a thought earlier when McGee was telling us about the bombing.” Ellie said in a low whisper that he wouldn’t have heard if she wasn’t as close as she was. 

“What’s that?”

“What if...you weren’t undercover? What if you had been in the building?” 

Nick’s hand froze in her hair. “You can’t think like that Ellie.”

“But what if you were? What if-” She rested her chin on his chest to look at him. “What if, you had been hurt..what if you had been one of the ones to not make it?”

“Ellie..” He said softly. “You can’t think of the ‘what if’s’, I’m fine and I wasn’t there.”

“It’s just..a scary thought. I would have never met you and-” She blinked quickly as if to keep tears at bay. “Thinking about you not being here is a scary thought Nick.”

“So stop thinking about it.” He mumbled, moving them so she was under him. Nick put his weight on his arms as he leaned down to softly kiss her. “Everything is okay, Ellie.”

She let out a breath and nodded. 

Nick started kissing down her neck, and it didn’t take long for Ellie to stop thinking of it and instead thinking of nothing but Nick. 


End file.
